Your birthday, one of the most important days of the year. . .well to you at least and some of your loved ones.  Depending on how you feel about birthdays

(my parents always made birthdays a big deal) you typically tend to go all out, or at least want to feel special.  A manicure and/or pedicure is definitely necessary because it should be a cardinal sin to look triflin’ on a day that is literally all about YOU blessing the world with your physical existence.

So when it comes to your birthday manicure it makes the most sense that your manicure reflects your mood for your birthday, right?  Match your nails to your vibe.  Is it a golden birthday? Milestone birthday?  Whatever it is, go for it!  If you’re going on a vacation somewhere that’s fun yet has some relaxing elements to it, you can look at colors from OPI’s Fiji collection.  If you’re about to have lit birthday shenanigans then you’re most likely going to have your nails pop with glitter, stones, chrome finish etc.

For my 28th birthday last year, I just wanted something that was pretty.  My plans for my birthday weekend kind of got lost because I was so busy with the new job I started and the Monday after my birthday weekend I was hopping on a plane to Cleveland for a budget meeting.  So I just wanted something that was pretty and screamed ME!

I love pastels and I love me a negative space manicure.  I came across an image on Intsagram and was like…

This is cute.

I can do this. 

But not with these colors.

And voila!  My birthday nails for bringing in 28 were created. 

All you need is your base coat, top coat, about 4 to 5 colors, and doting tools of various sizes (Amazon is your best friend for doting tools).

I selected my colors around the fact I knew I wanted Essie’s ‘Bikini So Teeny’ on my nails as it’s my all-time favorite nail polish color.  From there I knew shades of yellow and green would compliment ‘Bikini So Teeny’ so I chose Essie’s ‘Chillato’ and OPI’s ‘Towel Me About It’ and ‘Gargantuan Green Grape’.  Then to break it all up I added Essie’s ‘French Affair’.

WARNING: This manicure is so easy to do but can be time consuming.

Step 1:

Paint your base coat and then your top coat – life changing (refer back to my ‘Facts.’ post for a refresher)

Step 2:

Place drops of nail polish, as you use them, on a plate (or any flat surface item that you can toss) and use doting tools to create dots over your nail in different sizes.  Break up the colors and sizes, and don’t be afraid to overlap. Note when using ‘Gargantuan Green Grape’ it’s pretty sheer when dotted so you may have to dot it a few times. . .carefully.  There’s no pattern, just let the dots lead you.  Do a full nail, half a nail, or an ombre situation.  Whatever you fancy.

Step 3:

Let the dots dry for about 15 minutes before you put on your top coat.  Just because they’re dots doesn’t mean the colors can’t streak into each other when the top coat goes over it.

Step 4:

Clean around the edges with nail polish remover if needed and you’re done!

My birthday nails were so damn cute and I was obsessed with them.  They definitely made me feel good. 

For my 29th birthday I knew I wanted to have this as my manicure again, but I definitely did not have the patience to sit and do all ten nails.  So to make things easier on myself I decided to only do two nails per hand, and the remaining a solid color.  I also switched out Essie’s ‘French Affair’ for ‘Baguette Me Not’.  There’s not a huge difference between the two, but I wanted to switch things up slightly.  This is by far one of my favorite manicures, and I might just end up doing it every year for my birthday (lol).  Now I’m off to Palm Springs for the weekend to celebrate and relax.

Whatever manicure you decide for your birthday, make sure it makes you feel good!

XO,

Melly